L&T Technology Services To Acquire Smart World & Communication Business Of L&T Ltd.

·         LTTS to strengthen global reach across Next-Gen Communications, Sustainable Spaces and Cybersecurity through this acquisition

·         Acquisition is a continuation of LTTS’ 6 Big Bets strategy in 5G, Sustainability and Digital Products & AI

L&T Technology Services Limited (BSE: 540115, NSE: LTTS), a global leading pure-play engineering services company, today announced that it has agreed to acquire the Smart World & Communication (SWC) Business of L&T, enabling LTTS to combine synergies and take offerings in Next-Gen Communications, Sustainable Spaces and Cybersecurity to the global market.

Smart World & Communication was founded in 2016 to cater to the demands in smart cities, address opportunities and provide smart solutions in the areas of end-to-end communications, city surveillance and intelligent traffic management system for the Government as well as enterprises. It has an employee base of over 700 engineers from diversified technology domains and has crossed an annual revenue of INR 1,000 Crores.

The coming together of the LTTS and SWC teams will address the entire gamut of digital offerings including design, architect, build & operate, effectively catering to the portfolios encompassing Next-Gen Communications, Sustainable Spaces and Cybersecurity.

SWC’s strong expertise in the area of Next-Gen Communications has been instrumental in the network design, planning, implementation and management including Network Operations Center (NOC), OSS, Datacenter, Cloud/Private 5G of over 25,000 locations across India. It has assisted multiple state governments in India with network operating centers and network management systems while establishing end-to-end network connectivity projects such as TANFINET and Telangana Fiber Grid. SWC has created gEDGE data centers with a lot of innovation resulting in up to 40 percent reduction in power consumption and up to 30 percent savings in capex.

LTTS has been an early mover in the global communications domain, identifying 5G as a Big Bet in 2020. Today, LTTS’ 5G offerings and services have resulted in the company taking complete ownership of 10+ Labs-as-a-Service for customers, 5G network assurance with over 100 use cases for clients, and more than 100 product families developed for OEMs globally.

5G is expected to have a global impact of $1.3 trillion by 2030 and LTTS with SWC believes that together, it is in a stronger position to continue to win and execute large scale transformational programs in India and globally in this segment.

In Sustainable Spaces, SWC brings capabilities around public safety, smart cities, critical infrastructure and smart metering along with L&T Fusion Platform and Integrated Command and Control Center (IC3). Implementation of mega public safety projects were completed in Mumbai,

Hyderabad and Nagpur where tens of thousands of devices including cameras and network equipment have been rolled out for city level projects. Another notable measure of success is the Prayagraj Smart City program, an AI based crowd management project which has successfully managed over 250 million people. SWC has also implemented smart metering in states like Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Delhi to the tune of 6 million meters.

LTTS brings smart building and experience management capabilities through its i-BEMS platform that has been deployed in the ‘world’s smartest office campus’ in Israel with over 14,000 sensors. Together, LTTS and SWC will address a larger market of $390 billion globally for sustainable spaces.

In Cybersecurity, SWC brings Full Lifecycle Threat Management capabilities, with offerings in risk assessment, threat monitoring, security architecture, design, and DevSecOps.

LTTS has been offering Cybersecurity services to its OT and product customers globally.

The joint team of LTTS and SWC would provide Security Operating Centers (SOC), full lifecycle threat management, OT cybersecurity and product security credentials and address the demands of the projected $376 billion cybersecurity market.

Commenting on the occasion, Mr. S. N. Subrahmanyan, Chief Executive Officer & Managing Director, Larsen & Toubro Limited remarked: “Smart World & Communication has created a niche for itself in the communications and smart spaces domain across developing markets. By combining with a global engineering services player like LTTS, its offerings across next-gen networks, smart spaces, and cybersecurity will help unlock new synergies across the technology spectrum. LTTS is well-positioned to take these capabilities to the global market, cementing its robust leadership in the engineering and technology domain.”

Amit Chadha, CEO & Managing Director, L&T Technology Services said “The acquisition of SWC is a progression of LTTS’ 6 Big Bets strategy with a direct bearing on 5G, Digital Products & AI, and Sustainability. SWC’s capabilities will enhance LTTS’ differentiation in the exciting field of next-gen communications with cutting edge solutions around 5G networks, sustainable spaces, along with a full stack of cybersecurity solutions to our global clientele. The combined team of LTTS and SWC will take these offerings incubated in India to the World while bringing best practices to Indian and global customers. On behalf of all employees at LTTS, I express my gratitude to the L&T management for putting their confidence in us and extend a warm welcome to all our colleagues at SWC. Look forward to doing exciting transformational programs together”.

The acquisition is subject to customary closing and approvals.

About L&T Technology Services Ltd

L&T Technology Services Limited (LTTS) is a listed subsidiary of Larsen & Toubro Limited focused on Engineering and R&D (ER&D) services. We offer consultancy, design, development and testing services across the product and process development life cycle. Our customer base includes 69 Fortune 500 companies and 57 of the world’s top ER&D companies, across industrial products, medical devices, transportation, telecom & hi-tech, and the process industries. Headquartered in India, we have over 21,400 employees spread across 20 global design centers, 28 global sales offices and 90 innovation labs as of September 30, 2022. For more information, visit https://www.ltts.com/

Aegon Life Insurance Launches “iTerm Prime For Self-Employed Customers”

* Self-Employed Customers To Get Special 10% Discount On 1st Year Premium 

Important Features 

Life cover starting from ?25 lakhs 

Flexible premium payment options 

Fully online buying process - no paper process or document uploads required 

‘Special Exit Value’ – get all premiums back with this option 

Additional riders to cover Critical Illness and Accidental death available 

Aegon Life Insurance, Digital India's life insurance company, has launched the “iTerm Prime Insurance plan” for self-employed customers. The company is offering a special 10% discount to self-employed customers and a 5% online discount for all other customers, for buying iTerm Prime life insurance. This discount is applicable on 1st year premium. iTerm Prime offers a minimum sum assured of ?25 lakhs. There is no upper limit on the sum assured. The policy can be purchased on Aegon Life’s website (www.aegonlife.com) and through its partners. Online policy buying process is simple. There is no need for paperwork or document scan and upload required. 

iTerm Prime is a famous life insurance plan by Aegon Life. The product also offers a ‘Special Exit Value’ option that allows the policyholder to get all premiums back when they turn 55 years old.  

“iTerm Prime is made to meet the requirements of self-employed population in Emerging India. There are crores of self-employed people in India, but a lot of them do not have life insurance. This is because of difficult paper process for buying insurance. Aegon Life’s policy buying process is fully online. There is no paper process required. To purchase our insurance, the buyer only needs is his/her PAN, Aadhaar, or drivers license. We have made this simple online process so that customers can buy our life insurance policies in a few clicks on their computer or mobile. For iTerm Prime, we are giving a special discount and flexible payment options to make the product more affordable for the end consumer,” said Satishwar B., MD and CEO of Aegon Life Insurance. 

Term insurance is essential for every household. If an earning member dies, the financial benefit from the term insurance policy helps the family. Term insurance is very affordable also. For e.g. a 30-year-old youth buying the iTerm Prime can get a Rs.1-crore life cover for just about Rs. 39 a day, and a 50 lac life cover costs just Rs. 22 a day. In case the policyholder dies an untimely death, his/her family can use the life cover benefit to pay off loans, fund their child's education and even their marriage. 

Aegon Life has a high claim settlement ratio of 99.03%.  With all these benefits, Aegon Life’s iTerm Prime is a very important term insurance policy for every household in emerging India. 

About Aegon Life: 

Aegon Life is Digital India’s life insurance company and pioneered the online Term Insurance plan in India. As India’s only 100% digital life insurance company, it’s building innovative solutions to financially secure every Indian household and provide greater clarity, transparency, and superior consumer experience.  

https://www.aegonlife.com/ 

Over 456 Persons Rescued Along Goa’s Beaches During 2022

~ 109 missing children traced on Goa’s beaches in 2022  

~ Calangute had the highest number of incidents this year with 162 incidents ~ 

~ October witnessed the highest rescues at 118~ 

~ Over 6000 lives have been saved since Drishti commences operations in 2008 ~ 

Drishti Marine, Goa's state-appointed lifesaving and rescue organisation, rescued 456 persons along the coast from January to December last year. Persons in the age bracket of 26 to 35 years accounted for 153 rescues, the highest number of rescues across various age categories.  

The rescues cover water-based rescues, medical situations and administration of first aid. Several of the water-based rescues included saving more than one person at a time. Unfortunately, all through 2022, four persons also succumbed to the waters. 

The month of October, which marks the formal beginning of Goa’s tourism season, witnessed the highest rescues with 118 rescues reported in the month, followed by 67 in December and 63 in May last year.  

Of the total number of individuals involved in rescue incidents, 585 were Indian citizens including residents from the state, while 45 foreigners were rescued in the previous year.  

Navin Awasthi, the operations head of Drishti Marine comments on the high incident rates among the age demographic, he says “The highest number of individuals involved in beach-related incidents were from the age group of 26 to 35 years which accounted for 153, followed by the age group of 19 to 25 years which accounted for 129 and ages below 12 years accounted for 124.” 

The Drishti lifesaving team is also the first responder to any medical emergencies which arise on the state’s coast. In the year 2022, 112 people were assisted in recovery from medical incidents, while first-aid was administered to 40 individuals across the designated beaches where the Drishti  lifesavers are deployed.  

“From January to December, there were 109 cases of missing children, where young ones wandered away from their families, forcing frantic parents and family members to reach out to the lifesavers for help, Drishti’s alert team has successfully closed all reported missing children cases, reuniting them with their parents.” said Navin Awasthi.  

Calangute beach which received a large number of footfalls had the most missing children incidents at 45 cases, followed by Baga with 35 and Colva with 11. 

Calangute was witness to the highest number of incidents this year too with 162 incidents reported so far, followed by 109 in Baga, 45 in Arambol while Candolim accounted for 33, Morjim reported 30 incidents, and Vagator accounted for 27, respectively. Meanwhile, Ashwem accounted for 12 while Miramar and Sinquerim reported 12 incidents respectively. In South Goa, Palolem reported 30 incidents and Colva reported 21 such incidents  

Drishti began operations in Goa in 2008. A total of 200 drowning cases occurred in 2007, the previous year which prompted the state government to take immediate measures and put together an efficient system. The service has led to a 99% reduction in deaths due to drowning and significantly improved the tourist experience in Goa. Over 6,000 lives have been saved since then, due to intervention rescue operations     

Syska Personal Care Announces The Launch Of Armour Beard Trimmer HT450 In Indian Market

* Syska Armour Beard Trimmer HT450 Has Been Engineered To Excellence

Syska Personal Care Appliances, a leading name in the personal care grooming segment has announced the launch of the Syska Armour Beard Trimmer HT450. Adding to its extensive collection of personal care, the company is back with another innovation for the beard grooming lovers. Built to offer a hassle-free experience to the consumers, Armour Beard Trimmer is the ideal trimmer that enables users to take charge of their grooming regime.

The trimmer is a perfect grooming tool for every men as it can be customised to match a user’s specific grooming tastes, enabling them to maintain or refresh their grooming routines at any time and from any location. Featuring a premium camouflage coated body, the trimmer has a flexible, ergonomic design making it look more premium while providing a comfortable experience using it.

Commenting on the introduction of the Syska Armour Beard Trimmer HT450, Mr. Gurumukh Uttamchandani, Executive Director, Syska Group said, "Syska is known for meaningfully redefining grooming through its unique and disruptive product line. We are very excited to introduce the trimmer, which combines the best of functionality, technology, and user experience to enable customers to create their own highly customised beard styles. Consumer requirements are at the heart of every product we design. Syska aims to enrich the lives of the grooming-conscious tribe through purpose-driven and meaningful innovation with this latest addition to our male grooming portfolio. With this flagship launch, we hope to build on our strong equity in the men's beauty and personal care category by achieving significant growth in the male grooming segment."

Key features of Syska Armour Beard Trimmer HT450:

Rototech Technology : The advanced technology incorporated in the trimmer helps prevent injuries

Working Time : One has the flexibility to operate the trimmer using a cord or cordless (lasts up to 90 minutes) depending on personal choice and comfort

Premium Blades : The trimmer has movable titanium blades & stationary stainless steel blades for to glide against user’s skin smoothly

Charging Time : The Syska trimmer with long battery life takes approximately 1.5 hours to charge

Cutting Length : The trimmer offers a 10mm cutting length to fit every consumer’s unique styling needs

Precision Length Setting : Syska trimmer offers 0.5mm length setting for a perfectly groomed look

Stubble Comb : The trimmer comes with a lock jog dial that helps in accurate cutting of the beard

Charging indicator : The Syska trimmer has been incorporated with indicator for charging guidance

Comfortable Grip : The trimmer is designed for Easy Handling and to provide more control and comfort

 The trimmer has a warranty period of two years from the date of purchase and is available in two colours ‘White’ and ‘Green’. The trimmer can be purchased from Flipkart at an exclusive launch price of Rs. 499/-.

Zepto Shotz 2022: From Milk And Bread To Ganga Jal, India Rode The 10-Minute Delivery Wave In Full Swing

In 2022, everyone must’ve tried a number of new things and adopted some of them into their daily routines. Among everything else, what urban Indians truly enjoyed and got used to was the idea of getting their everyday needs delivered to their doorsteps – that, too, in no time. 10-minute grocery delivery app Zepto had Indians living a life of ease and convenience in 2022. From over 120 orders for indulgences like chips, ice creams, and soft drinks dispatched per minute, to hundreds of healthy orders for juices, salads, and organic food per minute – all of India’s needs were delivered by Zepto, no matter the preferences. In fact, a Zepto user from Mumbai placed as many as 1,988 orders last year. Fans of quick delivery were also very generous in their feedback and appreciation for riders and consistency in experience.

From midnight cravings to monthly supplies, Indians are turning to Zepto

Zepto has become the go-to for people to call for groceries whether to whip up a quick meal or plan their health chart for the rest of the week. Not only are people ordering snacks and beverages for untimely hunger and spur-of-the-moment party plans, but also are planning ahead and stocking up their kitchen needs for weeks to avoid the hassle of shopping for essentials every now and then.

The prospect of free deliveries for orders above 149 has also encouraged customers to buy groceries in bulk, as well as prompted an overall surge in high-value orders. In 2022, the highest value of a particular order from Noida peaked at over 23,000, while a customer from Mumbai cumulatively spent close to 9 lacs on Zepto orders around the year.

Aadit Palicha, Co-founder and CEO, Zepto, says, “2022 has been a thrilling year for Zepto. We are proud to have delivered every customer promise with excellence- be it consistency in delivery times, product and tech experience, the quality of our assortment, and introducing new categories and products that excite and cater to every big or small customer need. We are truly grateful to our rider community for their relentless trust and support in making Zepto’s last-mile experience seamless and efficient. In 2023 and the years to come, our endeavor will be to further champion quick delivery and continue to fearlessly and prudently disrupt the category.”

It’s not just groceries that India is demanding in under 10 minutes

While groceries continue to be the most ordered category by Zepto customers, there’s been a steady growth in orders for other everyday essentials, too. Zepto’s assortment of 5000+ products across categories of home utility, hygiene, self-care, and electronics, among others, has been received supremely well by customers, who are now ordering everything – from birth control to self and babycare – on Zepto. In fact, customers also placed orders for items that took even Zepto by surprise (We’re glad, anyway):   

“Our customers are paramount to the success of our business, and to have won their trust in our service is immensely encouraging and rewarding. We’re leaning into our customers’ needs and adding to our capacities accordingly. We’re also focussing on making their entire experience – right from placing orders to receiving the deliveries – as seamless as possible. It is humbling to see so many Indian customers make the best use of Zepto’s offerings through orders for all their needs – no matter how distinct,” says Amritansu Nanda, Chief Marketing Officer, Zepto. 

Infosys Dec’22 Quarter Results – Revenue Growth Exceeded Expectations; FY23 Revenue Growth Guidance Raised To 16-16.5%

Actual vs. expectations

Revenue above expectations, while EBITM was tad below our/consensus expectations

Likely stock reaction

Neutral to positive

Key positives: Revenue beat, large deal intake of USD3.3bn, FY23 revenue growth guidance increased to 16-16.5% CC, LTM attrition moderated by 280bps QoQ.

Result Summary

Infosys reported revenues of USD4.66bn, up 2.3%/9.6% QoQ/YoY (CC 2.4%/13.7% QoQ/YoY), above our expectations of USD4.59bn. (TCS Q3FY23 revenues was US$7.07bn, 2.2% CC QoQ).

EBITM was flat sequentially at 21.5%, 20 bps below our expectations. (TCS IT services EBITM grew ~50 bps QoQ at 24.5%).

Adj. Profits at Rs65.9bn (9.4% QoQ, 13.4% YoY), above our expectations of Rs63.7bn due to higher other income.

FY23 outlook: Infosys raised its revenue growth guidance to 16-16.5% CC (earlier 15-16% CC), implying -1.1% to 0.5% QoQ growth in Q4, and retained its EBITM guidance to 21-22%.

TCV of deal intake stood at USD3.3bn (strongest in last 8 quarters) vs USD2.7bn in Q2FY23.

Growth by Verticals (all in CC terms)

Financial Services: 5.5%YoY ( V/s 11.5% YoY in Sep’22 quarter)

Manufacturing: 36.8%YoY ( V/s 45% YoY in Sep’22 quarter)

Retail:  12.7%YoY  ( V/s 15.4% YoY in Sep’22 quarter)

ECS: 25.9% YoY( V/s 24.3% YoY in Sep’22 quarter)

Communication: 12.7% YoY( V/s 18.4% YoY in Sep’22 quarter)

Hi Tech: 10.4% YoY( V/s 9.9% YoY in Sep’22 quarter)

Life sciences: 5% YoY( V/s 10.3% YoY in Sep’22 quarter)

Growth by Geographies (all in CC terms)

US: 10.5%YoY ( V/s 15.6% YoY in Sep’22 quarter)

Europe: 25.3%YoY ( V/s 28.5% YoY in Sep’22 quarter)

ROW: 11.9% YoY( V/s 11.9% YoY in Sep’22 quarter)

India: -5.4% YoY( V/s 36.4% YoY in Sep’22 quarter)

Manpower details

Total Headcount: 346,845, up 1,627 QoQ

LTM Attrition: 24.3%, V/s 27.1% in Sep’22 quarter and 28.4% in Jun’22 quarter. Management expects attrition to decline further in coming quarters.

Mahindra Logistics On-Boards Women e-Bike Riders For Its Last-Mile Deliveries

Mahindra Logistics Ltd. (MLL), one of India's leading providers of integrated logistics and mobility solutions, is committed to DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) in its workforce. MLL announced today that it has partnered with women e-bike riders for its last-mile deliveries in an effort to achieve true equality. The initiative aims to bring about a significant change in the logistics industry by empowering women and ensuring their inclusion across all functions. MLL intends to make an impact in the logistics industry by providing women with equal opportunities, even in non-traditional logistics roles, allowing them to become self-reliant.

With this objective, MLL has appointed a total of 11 women riders for last-mile delivery across Mumbai, Bangalore and Nagpur in the first phase of this initiative. To make the process more efficient, Mahindra Logistics is working actively towards a robust execution of this initiative. Furthermore, the company is providing comprehensive training to the women candidates for safely riding e-bikes, operating last-mile delivery, and soft skills.

The organization stands by safety of its women drivers by deploying vehicles integrated with GPS tracking which enables MLL to trouble-shoot any concerns of prolonged stoppage or diversion from the designated route.

Commenting on the announcement, Mr. Rampraveen Swaminathan, MD & CEO, Mahindra Logistics, said: “We are delighted to be leading the way in hiring women e-bike drivers for last-mile delivery, as part of our commitment to promoting gender diversity in the workforce. We believe that equal opportunities create a more productive and successful workplace, and we are proud to be at the forefront of progressive initiatives that are enabling the logistics industry to transform. As a part of our expansion plans, on-boarding more women drivers, fleet owners and other transporters will be a major focus for us at MLL. We remain committed to our larger RISE purpose, by actively working towards creating an environment where women can thrive and contribute their unique skills and perspectives to our organization and the society as a whole.” 

About Mahindra Logistics

Mahindra Logistics Limited (MLL) is an integrated third-party logistics (3PL) service provider, specializing in supply chain management and enterprise mobility. MLL serves over 400+ corporate customers across various industries like Automobile, Engineering, Consumer Goods and E-commerce. The Company pursues an “asset-light” business model, providing customised and technology enabled solutions that span across the supply chain and people mobility services.  

For more information, visit www.mahindralogistics.com